Planted Solar Secures 31.8 Million USD to Automate Solar Plant Construction

Planted Solar has raised 31.8 million USD to increase the production of robots that automate the construction of solar power plants. CNET Japan reported the story.

The funding round was co-led by Piva Capital and the Planetary Health division of RA Capital Management. Other participants included Google, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Gigascale Capital, and Khosla Ventures. The company intends to use these funds to expand its robot fleet and deploy a new model called Sage around the end of 2026.

Planted Solar integrates the design and construction of power plants by combining design software, energy storage equipment, and construction robots that install solar panels densely along the terrain. The company claims its system can handle slopes up to 27 percent without requiring land leveling, which it says can double the amount of electricity generated per unit area compared to conventional methods.

While current robots are modified Caterpillar vehicles operated by humans, the Sage model is being developed as fully autonomous. Planted Solar states that Sage may increase field productivity by more than two times compared to current robots, though specific measurement methods and comparison conditions were not provided. The company noted that this does not necessarily mean construction periods will be halved across the board.

As a performance example, the company cited a 28MW project for a data center that took 10 months from initial consultation to power supply, with on-site construction lasting less than three months. In another instance, the Armoracia project was advanced after the company reduced the required land area from approximately 26 acres to 16 acres to build a facility exceeding 7MW.

Planted Solar expects to install over 10MW in 2025 and 100MW in 2026, with a project pipeline exceeding 20GW. Because current robot deployment slots are filled through 2027, the company aims to increase its capacity by mass-producing Sage. Additionally, the company plans to launch a powered land business in 2027, providing land equipped with power generation facilities to large-scale users such as data centers.